10 Questions with Doug Lanford, the programmer for Jurassic Park and Wild Woody on the Sega CD! ;)
1.Hi, Doug can you tell us Sega CD fans a little about yourself and your career?
I got started right out of college in 1991... I found myself in San Francisco with a degree in
Electrical Engineering at a time when most of the big engineering companies were laying off
people. Then I got lucky... I saw an ad in the local paper for "Game Testers." I ended up
getting a job at Sega testing games. Five months later, Sega started looking for programmers
for their new Multimedia Studio, and since I already had my foot in the door, I ended up
being hired up. The next thing I knew, I was working on the Sega CD version of Jurassic Park.
After Jurassic Park, I worked on Wild Woody... by the time we finished the game, the Multimedia
Studio was being phased out, so I left Sega to head over to a smaller company called Gametek...
several of my former Sega co-workers were there and asked me to join them to work on Robotech
N64 (I think the Robotech toys in my cubicle at Sega helped). After a couple of years at
Gametek, I moved on to 3DO, where I have worked for the past 3 years.
2.I myself will be attending college soon to pursue a career in
video game programming, any tips or hints for a Math Hater like myself and many others?
Well, I hate to say it, but math is very helpful, especially in the modern 3D games. An
understanding of algebra and geometry (particularily trig) is useful, though I haven't needed
much of my calculus and advanced math courses.
Primarily, though, you should focus on courses in computer programming and software engineering.
3.Which game did you enjoy programming more Jurassic Park or Wild Woody and why?
Difficult to say... Jurassic Park was the first game I ever worked on, and I was still high on
the idea that I had managed to find myself in the games industry. By the time I got to Wild
Woody, I had settled into the career a bit more, and wasn't as enthusiastic about the game
design I was working on. On the other hand, I ended up doing much of the system design for
Wild Woody... though I was being paid as a junior programmer, I did the job of a senior
programmer on the project, and I had a great time doing it.
4.If you don't mind me asking, did you get any cool worth mentioning
perks as a programmer from Sega etc..?
I suppose the best perks (at Sega at least) were the days interesting people would come
through, such as the day Michael Jackson wandered by, or the time we got to spend with
Dr. Robert Bakker while he helped design the dinosaurs for Jurassic Park.
5.How long did both Sega CD games take to make and in programming
which part did you mainly attribute to?
Each game took about a year and a half to complete.
On Jurassic Park, the original design for the game called for three different point-of-views... a
side-scrolling view (like Wild Woody), a top-down view, and a first-person view. My initial task
was to build a prototype of the first person engine. Just as I was getting the basics of the
system working (built entirely on a Sega Genesis), we decided that the original game design was
far too big. The new design ended up being based around my little first-person engine. In
addition, I created the code for about 75% of the dinosaurs in the game, as well as the code for
the Gallimimus and Dilophosaur territories, and parts of several
other territories. I even had a
chance to do some minor artwork for the game....
On Wild Woody, I built about 90% of the graphical engine for the game, as well as designing
how the levels are loaded and run. I also set up the Pirate levels and built the code for
all the 3D bonus mazes. The final thing I did was to build all the cheat codes and easter
eggs in the game, during some spare time at the end of the project.
6.How many others were on the job with you programming these games?
I don't recall exact numbers, but I believe both had 15 to 20 people working on them... about
5 programmers, 5 to 7 artists, 3 or 4 designers, and a couple of sound people.
7.Are just computers used to program games or a specific machine
that works in sync with the system?
Every game system I've ever worked with used a PC hooked up to a
development system. The development
system is a special version of the game system that allows the PC
to watch what is going on inside,
allowing the programmer to write code on the PC and then run it, stopping the game as needed to
debug problems.
8.Are all the people involved in the game, like music guy,programmers
etc.. all together in the same place or must the prototype be sent
out after your part is finished?
For the most part, everyone working on the game are at the same
location... usually that is necessary.
Often the work you are doing is tied very closely to what others
are working on... you need to be
able to discuss ideas and problems with each other. In addition,
as a programmer I'm often working on
tools that are needed by the designers or artists, and you need
their feedback as you work. In a really
good game team, everyone is working together, bouncing ideas back
and forth... if a designer has an
interesting idea he can come tothe programmers and ask if it is
possible... if it is, then a programmer
may spend some extra time at some point putting it in, adding an
improvement to the game that wasn't
originally planned.
9.As of late you've programmed for many other systems including
PS2, and N64. Which system seemed to be the hardest to work with?
It seems that each new generation of consoles is more complex than
the last. The very first game system
I worked on was the Sega Game Gear... I spent a few weeks learning how it worked as my very first
task as a programmer at Sega (I was originally hired to do technical
support). The Game Gear (much like
the Nintendo Game Boy) is a system that is simple enough that a
single programmer with an idea (and perhaps
some help from an artist) can build a game. Then I learned the
Sega Genesis, which was a little more
complex, but was still possible for a single programmer to build a game.
Then, for my first actual game, I was working on the SegaCD. Though
based on the Genesis, it added a whole
extra side system to deal with... the games required at least three
or four programmers to build everything
needed. Once I got to Gametek and started to work on the N64, things
got even more complex... we were now
working in 3D, which required a lot more math and was too complex
a system for one person to keep track of
everything the hardware could do. The PS2 is an order of magnitude
more complex than the N64, and despite
working on several PS2 games, I still understand very little about
how the guts of the system work...
I just know the parts of the system I've spent time working with.
10.Which of your developments is your pride and joy? The game
that stuck out in your head as a major accomplishment in your bright career?
I suppose it is appropriate, given the website you maintain, but
the two games I worked on at Sega are
probably the ones I have the most personal pride in. They were
the games I had the most impact on, both
creatively and as a programmer.
Thank you so much Doug Lanford I appreciate the time you
took out of your busy schedule to answer some questions for www.segacduniverse.cjb.net
You can find info (screen shots, cheat codes, easter eggs, etc.)
about all of the games Doug has programmed
for (as well as a few he tested back at the beginning of his career)
at his webpage: www.opusgames.com
This Interview is property of
Vampyre Mike (Mike) www.segacduniverse.com
and
Doug Lanford of www.opusgames.com
Please ask for permission from one of us before you take this interview or any parts of it for your web site, Thank You.